


Rare As The Feathers On My Dash From A Phoenix

by enifmiimfine (gahhhastly)



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Bisexual Kevin Day, Canon Compliant, Kevin Day/History BF, Kevin goes to therapy, M/M, Post-Canon, arospec kevin day, background Kevin/Thea in the beginning but they break up, disaster bisexual kevin day
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:33:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26845183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gahhhastly/pseuds/enifmiimfine
Summary: Kevin didn’t hook up with men. He had his image to think of, and he didn’t need any more complications to do with his public persona. Especially with the Moriyamas looming in the shadows. And besides always being late and his poor beverage choices, Kam’s biggest flaw was that he obviously wasn’t into exy. To the degree that he didn’t even know who Kevin was, which meant there was no way they could actually be compatible.Or: The story of Kevin’s first boyfriend, him accepting his bisexuality, and realizing that he has choices in his life.Rated E for sexual content in future chapters. Kind of a spin-off of my other post-canon story,Kevin’s Night of Catharsis, but can be read as a stand alone.
Relationships: Kevin Day/Original Male Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23
Collections: Potential (Post-Canon Fox Stories)





	Rare As The Feathers On My Dash From A Phoenix

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Seigfried by Frank Ocean. No Beta, but let me know if you see any typos etc. Also shout out to GQ streetstyle for helping me with Kam's wardrobe.

Kevin looked down at his phone as he walked into the classroom to double check the time. Punctuality was very important to Kevin, but he didn’t usually show up to class more than a few minutes before it started. It only took him a minute or two to settle into his seat and set up his space, and he hated sitting around idly. However, he always made sure to be at least five minutes early for his first classes of the semester in order to claim a good seat and scope out the other students.

Kevin had never told anyone this, but he loved going to class. Growing up in the Nest he was never enrolled in school. Instead, his homeschooling consisted of a tutor, him, Riko, (and Jean once he was brought to the Nest), sitting in an old office learning the bare minimum required for them to pass the mandated tests. Lessons were short and to the point; this is what you need to know, now memorize it. Riko hated school and anytime Kevin tried to ask a tutor for more information, Riko would cut them off and end the lesson prematurely. He hadn’t tried to stop Kevin from reading his books in bed at night, but as soon as Riko was ready to sleep the lights went out, no flashlights allowed.

Kevin had been hopeful when they finally enrolled in Edgar Allen that he would be able to talk to people about history and all the other topics that interested him, but nothing changed. The Ravens had a dedicated “liberal arts” track, and no other majors were allowed. They had to drive to the campus for classes and there were a couple more Ravens in the room, but it was the same perfunctory education. Kevin had been grateful to gain access to the school’s library and online databases though.

When Kevin first came to Palmetto State University, he was bitter and angry and depressed. So much of his life had been violently taken from him, and while most of what he lost may have been abusive and wrong, it was all he had known. It took time for Kevin to start appreciating everything he was gaining at PSU. Especially because teaching himself to play exy right handed and his tumultuous relationships with the Foxes weren’t exactly positive experiences in the beginning either. The one thing Kevin was able to appreciate and enjoy straight away were his new classes.

His credits from Edgar Allen took care of most of his required courses and he got to declare History as his major. His first 300 level history class had made him giddy. He was finally learning more about the topics that had fascinated him for years, and even more than the facts and theories he loved the discussions and debates. He didn’t really know anyone outside of the Foxes, but in class he could talk to his peers about his thoughts and they would actually listen to him. Some of them even had intelligent responses. It was a novel experience that Kevin greatly enjoyed. 

Today was his first 400 level course, and he was excited. He had finally caught up with credits after missing a semester when Riko broke his hand. The few months he had been acting as an unofficial assistant coach to the Foxes he hadn’t actually been enrolled as a student. Wymack had used his personal money and had even taken out loans to buy Kevin out of his Raven’s contract, but he couldn’t offer a scholarship to someone who might not ever play again. The past three semesters Kevin had taken what was considered a normal course load for non-athletes, but a heavy one for someone who also had practice seven hours a day.

Now that he was back to taking only four courses a semester and had the required prerequisites, he was able to take an advanced seminar that required a 40 page thesis. He was looking forward to the challenge, and was even more excited because the class was focused on Classical Athens, one of his favorite topics. 

The classroom was small, there were no desks, just a large round table with a dozen chairs and a smaller table in the corner with a bunch of wires on it. Two of the walls were covered with large green chalkboards and another had a smartboard. He got a seat that was directly across from the smartboard with his back to the plain wall so he wouldn’t have to turn around to see anything. Three other students were already here, two of which he recognized from previous classes, and the professor was in the corner setting up his computer. 

Kevin got settled with his laptop and waited for class to start. Only one other student came in before the professor began his lecture, beginning with going over the syllabus and the requirements of the course. Fifteen minutes into it, the door to the classroom opened and another student walked in. 

The man breezed into the room with one of those blended coffees with whipped cream on top. The professor didn’t reprimand him for interrupting or being late, he just gave the newcomer an indulgent smile and nodded towards a seat at the table. Kevin rolled his eyes behind his computer screen and started typing a rant about tardiness and the stupidity of overpriced sugar filled drinks to vent his annoyance. 

His irritation didn’t just come from his hatred of unpunctual people or poor dietary decisions. The new guy was hot, and Kevin felt an immediate attraction to him, which led to an immediate dislike and unwillingness to give him the benefit of the doubt. Kevin had always been attracted to people of all genders, but he had never let himself indulge in his attraction to anyone who wasn’t a woman. He never thought it would be worth the headlines and scandal when he could be quite satisfied sleeping with only women. 

Every so often though, Kevin felt a particularly strong attraction that he couldn’t easily ignore. Whenever that happened, he managed his feelings by fixating on any and all of the person’s perceived flaws in an attempt to sublimate his desire, and it usually worked. He had typed three hundred words of his rant in a google doc before he remembered that he was in class and should be paying attention to the professor. By the time he tuned back in, the professor had finished with the syllabus and Kevin realized he missed the explanation of the thesis paper. Another thing to dislike the new student for. 

For the rest of the class Kevin steadfastly avoided looking at the man and put all his concentration towards the discussion at hand. The professor ended the class a little early since it was the first day, and all of the other students immediately turned towards the guy who came in late and started talking to him excitedly. Kevin rolled his eyes to himself again. Not only did he have to share an intimate class with this guy for an entire semester, he apparently also had to put up with the professor and all the other students fawning all over him.

Kevin went to ask the professor about the final paper and whatever else he might have missed while zoning out. To his dismay, professor Biermann informed him that the final paper would be collaborative and that he would assign the partners in February after reviewing their first couple papers. Kevin tried to argue that with his exy schedule working on such an intensive project with another person would be next to impossible. Professor Biermann was sympathetic, but informed him it was a requirement of the class and if Kevin couldn’t do it he would have to drop the course. 

Kevin told him he understood and would somehow make it work. By the time they were done talking the rest of the class had gotten out of their seats, but they all seemed to be engaged by an apparently fascinating and hilarious story being told by the late guy right in front of the door. Kevin collected his things and walked over. 

“Excuse me.” he said flatly. The rest of the students turned to look at him. The two that he knew from past classes gave him small smiles, and the two others blushed at being addressed by exy star Kevin Day, but they all shuffled out of the doorway. Late guy didn’t move. Kevin couldn’t stop himself from checking him out as he stood there blocking the door.

Kevin’s eyes raked over the man from head to foot. They were the same height, but the boots the other guy was wearing had a heel so he was probably actually around six foot. He had tightly coiled short curls that were bleached blond but dark at the roots, a silver hoop pierced through his right eyebrow and another thin hoop through his septum. He was smiling at Kevin with ridiculous dimples, and Kevin quickly scanned the rest of him. 

There was no denying he was hot, but he also looked  _ cool _ . Kevin didn’t really know a lot about fashion beyond what looked good on him and what was expensive, but the other man's clothes seemed almost curated. Kevin couldn’t figure out how they looked good together, but they did. 

His pants were tie dyed in black, purple, red, green, and yellow, and cuffed over his black chelsea boots that had a two inch heel. The pants were held up by a plain black utility belt with a rounded rectangular silver buckle. Over that he wore a soft black v neck sweater, which showed the edges of tattoos across his chest and collar bones. Then he had on a long tailored jacket that went down to his knees in a brown, black, tan, and red glen check pattern. A small patterned scarf was knotted loosely around his neck, the fringe hanging down to just above his belt buckle.

So many different patterns and colors should have looked ridiculous, but instead it looked effortlessly cool and sophisticated. Kevin looked back up at his face, to his hooded chestnut brown eyes, and swallowed involuntarily. 

“Hi, I don’t think we’ve met, I’m Kam Quinlan.” His voice was incredibly deep and sexy and made Kevin’s stomach flutter for some reason. When Kam didn’t move or say anything else, Kevin started to get confused. After an awkward silence with Kevin standing there with his brow furrowed and Kam looking at him expectantly, Kam said in a mock whisper, “This is usually when you would introduce yourself.” 

Kevin tried to remember ever meeting someone who didn’t already know who he was and couldn’t recall it ever happening. “I’m Kevin Day.” He said, still looking, and now sounding, confused. 

“Are you sure about that?” Kam asked, smiling, and his stupid dimples flashed. Kevin felt another surge of frustrated annoyance wipe out his confusion.

“Yes, could you move, I need to get going.” Kevin said. Kam frowned, but stepped aside. Kevin felt a small twinge of sadness when his dimples disappeared, but he just huffed his thanks and walked away. 

As he made his way to the athletics department dining hall for lunch he reminded himself of all the reasons he shouldn’t pursue Kam. First, he was dating Thea. Although, they did have an open relationship, an unhelpful voice in the back of his head that sounded remarkably like Nicky reminded him. Second, Kevin didn’t hook up with men. He had his image to think of, and he didn’t need any more complications to do with his public persona. Especially with the Moriyamas looming in the shadows. Third, besides being late and his poor beverage choices, Kam’s biggest flaw was that he obviously wasn’t into exy. To the degree that he didn’t even know who Kevin was, which meant there was no way they could actually be compatible. 

By the time Kevin walked into the cafeteria he had put all thoughts of Kam Quinlan out of his mind. Kevin was able to keep his thoughts Kam free until their next class that Tuesday. During class though, it was hard for him to think about anything else. He kept reminding himself that Kam was not his kind of person. He was always smiling and never seemed to take anything seriously. He almost always showed up late and never took notes. Maybe Kevin was impressed by his insights whenever he spoke up, but his focus wasn’t even ancient history, so Kevin couldn’t understand why he was in the advanced seminar in the first place. 

After a few weeks of classes it was getting harder and harder for Kevin to hide his irritation at the other man, but Kam seemed to be enjoying it. He would comment on everything Kevin said, usually to bring up a different perspective, but sometimes, when he was feeling really obnoxious, to actually agree with what Kevin said. Every time it happened, Kevin wasn’t able to stop himself from crossing his arms over his chest and giving him a dirty look, wishing that Kam and his laughing eyes would drop the fucking class already. 

The icing on the cake came in early February when they were assigned to work on their thesis together. It meant that they would have to meet regularly outside class for the rest of the semester. Scheduling that time was difficult for Kevin with championships going on, but even more difficult was having a civil conversation with Kam.

“It’s going to be hard for me to find time to meet more than once a week for a while because of practice.” Kevin told him after class when they started to discuss plans for their paper.

“Oh, do you play a sport? Which one?” Kam looked at Kevin with sparkling guileless eyes, and Kevin really didn’t know if this guy was serious.

“Exy.”

“Oh no way! Do you know Nicky? We’re in the PSU Queer Students of Color Association together. He’s great.”

“Yeah, I know Nicky…”

“Oh wow!” Kam said, like something had just clicked in his mind, “You’re  _ Kevin _ !” his eyes were once again full of laughter.

But now more than annoying Kevin, the look was making him uncomfortable. He could just imagine the kinds of things Nicky might have said about him. He cleared his throat.

“So, anyway, I should have time on the 14th around seven thirty, does that work for you?”

“You want to meet next week, on February 14th, at dinner time?” Kam seemed… confused or incredulous? Kevin couldn’t tell. His eyes were still shining, but his brow was slightly furrowed now. It was kind of adorable and Kevin needed it to stop.

“Yes, if you can’t meet then I’m not sure when I’ll have time, but probably not for a couple of weeks.” The Foxes had their first death match against Maryland this Friday, which Kevin expected them to win, then the week off before round three started.

“Okay, I guess that's okay, if it's the only time you can meet. I’ll reserve us a study room in the library.”

“Fine.” Kevin said, and walked away. 

“See you around.” Kam called after him. 

The Foxes won their death match, and on Saturday Nicky banged on the suite door Kevin shared with Andrew and Neil. Kevin and Neil were reviewing footage of the other death match that had been played last night while Andrew smoked out the window. It took Neil a minute to struggle out of the bean bag he had sunken into to answer the door, and Nicky’s knocking didn’t slow or soften the entire time.

Once Neil finally let him in he marched straight up to Kevin with his hands on his hips. 

“Kevin Day.” Nicky said in his sternest voice, “You did not ask  _ the _ most popular queer guy on campus to work on a  _ history paper _ with you ON  _ VALENTINE’S DAY _ . You may not realize it, but by depriving anyone in the community the chance to go out with him on Valentine’s Day, you’re being extremely homophobic. I expected better of you Kevin. I know you’ve never been exactly an ally, but show some respect and reschedule, would you?”

Kevin had felt his cheeks starting to go red, and he noticed Andrew looking at him intently. “I didn’t even realize it was Valentine’s Day, but he could have said no. Why do you even care? How do you even know?”

“Every year our club hosts a date auction for Valentines Day, and he always brings in the most cash. But this year he said he can’t participate because of YOU.” Nicky turned to Andrew and Neil, who had walked over to the window to smell Andrew’s cigarette while watching Nicky blow up. “Back me up, this affects you guys too! Kevin is being HOMOPHOBIC.”

Andrew raised an unimpressed eyebrow and blew some smoke out the window while Neil said, “I’m not really gay, you know.”

“Yes Neil, I know. But you are a man in a loving committed relationship,” Andrew started reaching for his knives and Neil stole his cigarette to distract him “with another man.” Nicky either didn’t notice or didn’t care about Andrew’s reaction to his words. “So it does affect you as well.” 

Nicky gestured towards Kevin, probably hoping that Neil would use some of his persuasiveness to convince Kevin to reschedule. Neil just stood there looking lost in thought and Andrew stole the cigarette back. Nicky huffed in annoyance.

“C’mon, Kevin!” he said, “Don’t you have plans to skype sex Thea or something?” Nicky made a face at the thought.

“No. But we have a really important paper to work on so I don’t really care.” 

“Well, all I can say is I’m disappointed but not surprised.” Nicky said shaking his head, and with that he left the room, slamming the door on his way out. 

Kevin went to restart the exy video and looked over to see if Neil was coming back. Neil started back towards his bean bag.

“So, Kam?” Andrew said, surprising both Kevin and Neil with his input.

“We were assigned to work together, what of it?” Kevin responded, avoiding looking at Andrew.

“You’re blushing you know.” Andrew said.

“I am not. Why do you care anyway.” Kevin said petulantly.

“I don’t.” Andrew said and turned back to looking out the window. Neil was looking at Kevin more intently now, like he was trying to figure out what Andrew was getting at, but Kevin just started the video and they spent the rest of the day discussing the other teams’ performances and what their strategy should be in the upcoming games. 

On Monday, after quickly scarfing down some dinner, Kevin made his way to the library to meet up with Kam. He checked the room reservation board to see where to go and was surprised to find Kam waiting for him. Kevin had expected him to be late as usual.

“Hey.” Kevin said, sliding into a seat and pulling out his lap top.

“Hi,” Kam said back, smiling with his dumb dimples. “Happy Valentine's Day!”

Kevin sighed, “Yeah, Nicky told me about your thing. We could have rescheduled if you were busy.”

“Oh, no, it's fine. I wasn’t really feeling up to going out with a random person who bid on me this year anyway. How about you? No big plans?” Kam asked. 

“Not really. All my focus has to be on round three of the championships.” Kevin said.

“So, no time for dating then?” Kam asked, looking at Kevin through his eyelashes. 

Kevin swallowed and licked his lips involuntarily. He started to feel warm, which was fair, the library was heated to the max in the winter, but it hadn’t been bothering him before. Kevin’s brain was stalled. Was Kam really hitting on him? After all their debates in class, and Kevin trying his hardest to ignore Kam’s clever retorts, and ridiculous dimples, and sexy clothes. Had he really been that obvious?

More importantly, how did Kevin want to handle this? He still believed that remaining heterosexual was the best option for him, but did that really mean he could  _ never _ hook up with men? Back at the Nest, guys would fuck all the time, and most of them still considered themselves straight. What were the odds that anyone would ever really find out? Ignoring his feelings was not helping them go away, but maybe once they slept together, that would help Kevin get over it.

He wasn’t sure what Kam was implying though. Would he be insulted by the offer to sleep together? Was he more interested in dating or a relationship? Kevin definitely wasn’t looking for that. He was with Thea, and he loved her, but beyond her he’d never really felt the desire to date anyone else, only to hook up with them. 

Now that he thought of it though, maybe if he had more time, he might actually be interested in dating Kam. He wasn’t sure how Thea would feel about it, but they did have an open relationship. And if she did have an issue Kevin would stop. But he didn’t have more time. He had exy and that was most important, always. What was he thinking? He couldn’t date a man. Kevin cleared his throat.

“No time for  _ dating  _ really, no.” Kevin said, leaving Kam to interpret his tone however he wanted. 

“Hmm.” Kam hummed, looking down at the table. Kevin couldn’t see his reaction to his hint and when Kam looked up his face was smiling but unreadable. “Should we get started then?”

They spent the next hour and a half coming up with possible topics for their paper. The conversation flowed easily, but they still had some of the competitive banter Kevin was used to from class. In the end they settled on three possible topics to submit to the professor for feedback. It was just after nine when they left the library, and once they were outside Kam turned to Kevin.

“So, my apartment’s off campus and I have my own room. I assume you live in the athlete’s dorms?” Kam said. He had a shy smile but was making intense eye contact and his implication was clear. 

“Oh,” Kevin said, rubbing the back of his neck, “I um, I can’t tonight I have to call my girlfriend, then I have night practice, but some other time?”

“Girlfriend, wow. I'm sorry, I guess I misread our earlier conversation.”

“No,” Kevin said quickly, “We have an open relationship, but it is Valentine’s Day apparently…”

“That’s cool, but I’m not really down for that...” Kam trailed off a bit, “kind of thing.” He said hesitantly. 

So he was looking for something more serious than a one night stand. Kevin was disappointed, but at least he didn’t have to worry about the implications of sleeping with a man anymore.

“I understand. Well, I see you in class tomorrow I guess.” Kevin said, trying to sound unaffected.  


“Yeah, see you tomorrow.” Kam said, he flashed Kevin one last smile and walked towards the parking lot. 

Kevin turned and made his way towards Fox Tower, trying to ignore the persistent disappointment in his chest. This was a good outcome, they could continue working on their project together without complications and Kevin wouldn’t have to have any more crises about his sexuality. He told himself to put all thoughts of Kam as anything but an academic collaborator out of his head.  


**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed my writing please check out the first fic from this series, [Kevin's Night of Catharsis!](/works/26733517)  
> Also please come talk to me on tumblr! My username is [enifmiimfine](https://enifmiimfine.tumblr.com/) :)


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